LANSING, Mich. — Two weeks before Michigan votes, data centers have become one of the few subjects where candidates from both parties sound alike: most say the projects are coming regardless, and most want the Legislature to write tougher state laws on them before more break ground.
Interviews with candidates for the state Legislature in competitive districts across Wayne, Oakland and Macomb counties found broad support for added regulation of new projects. Two of them went further and backed a statewide moratorium, while one said Michigan already has enough data centers and needs no more.
The candidates most comfortable with the industry were sitting House members now seeking Senate seats who had voted for the 2024 law at the center of the debate. That law offers data center developers a tax break if they meet certain environmental conditions, but it is an incentive rather than a mandate.
Since then, people living near proposed sites have kept raising alarms about water supplies, power bills and constant noise. Follow-up legislation in the state Senate would require a community benefit agreement for each project, bar public officials from signing nondisclosure deals with developers, block data centers from driving up home electric rates and add renewable power, water and air standards.
Bills to regulate data centers have been introduced in both chambers of the Legislature, but none has advanced so far, and any statewide ban would have to come from lawmakers.
The same caution shows up in the U.S. Senate race. Republican Mike Rogers and Democrat Abdul El-Sayed disagree on most issues, yet both campaigns have backed moratoriums of some kind, with Rogers calling for a one-year pause on new projects while a fairer approval process is built.
Public opinion is leaning hard against the projects. A Michigan State University survey of 1,000 residents found 70% opposed or somewhat opposed to a data center in their own community, against 11% in favor and 19% with no strong view.
The state counts 70 data centers already running, with 15 more on the drawing board and a pair being built. Gov. Gretchen Whitmer drew criticism in June for celebrating the opening of a large OpenAI facility in Saline Township, and in a July 15 statement she said any company building one in Michigan must keep families from paying a cent toward its development or operation.
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Filed under: Detroit MI Politics News
